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Island and pit formation during growth and annealing of InGaAs/GaAs films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

A. Riposan ,
G.K.M. Martin ,
M. Bouville ,
M. L. Falk  and
J. Mirecki Millunchick
A. Riposan
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2136
G.K.M. Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2136
M. Bouville
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2136
M. L. Falk
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2136
J. Mirecki Millunchick
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-2136
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Abstract

The surface morphology near the onset of 3D roughening of In0.27Ga0.73As/GaAs films was investigated for films both immediately after growth and after annealing. As expected, 3D island nucleation coincides with the onset of strain relaxation at a critical thickness hc. As strain relaxation continues, pits form adjacent to 3D islands. The onset of the pit formation depends on the growth conditions, including the growth temperature and As overpressure, and the areal coverage of 3D islands. On average, pits form only after the area coverage of islands reaches ~50%. The islands and pits coalesce into ripple arrays as the film thickness increases. Films below and above the critical thickness for 3D roughening were annealed to study the stability of islands and pits. For films with thicknesses below hc, initially smooth surfaces evolve into islanded morphologies upon annealing. For films grown above hc which have both islands and pits on the surface, both islands and pits grow and coalesce during annealing. These results suggest that pit formation is favored, but it requires a minimum island coverage and/or wetting layer thickness in order to nucleate.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 696: Symposium N – Current Issues in Heteroepitaxial Growth--Stress Relaxation and Self Assembly , 2001 , N6.9
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

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